European Commission sets sights on standard lorry charges across EU to cut emissions

The European Commission today calls for standardised road tolls across the continent in order to better tackle climate change.

Transport commissioner Viotela Bulc told a conference that "clear and common rules are important to allow transport operators to be as efficient as possible" and that action is also needed to reduce CO2 emissions given transport's rising share of total emissions. "De-carbonisation of transport will require measures aimed at promoting low carbon technologies for vehicles, and in this respect road charging has a very strong potential."

The commissioner said that the road transport sector is very competitive and very cost-conscious and therefore if road charges were designed to reward the cleanest trucks, road operators would be encouraged to buy these to remain competitive. But road charges today "do not provide such clear and coherent incentives to road operators... member states are setting road charges based on different parameters and with different costs" and with operators needing " a least a dozen on-board devices" to drive on all tolled roads.

"An integrated, interoperable digital solution is the way forward and we will try to do all that is possible to make it happen." The Commission has previously promoted distance-based charges for lorries in contrast to emissions-based charges, or the time-based charge introduced in the U.K. The U.K Government said its charge was "a great success" in revenue-raising terms.